"One's joy, two's grief. Three's a wedding, four's a birth." I knew a man who, if on going to his work he had seen two _piets_ together, would have refrained from working before he had taken breakfast, believing that if he did so it would result in evil either to himself or his family. If a cock crew in the morning with its head in at the door of the house, it was a token that a stranger would pay the family a visit that day; and so firm was the _faith_ in this that it was often followed by works, the house being _redd_ up for the occasion. I remember lately visiting an old friend in the country, and on making my appearance I was hailed with the salutation, "Come awa, I knew we would have a visit from strangers to-day, for the cock crowed thrice over with his head in at the door." If a horse stood and looked through a gateway or along a road where a bride or bridegroom dwelt, it was a very bad omen for the future happiness of the intending couple. The one dwelling in that direction would not live long. If a bird got any human hair, and used it in building its nest, the person on whose head the hair grew would be troubled with headaches, and would very soon get bald. It is still a common belief that crows begin to build their nests on the first Sabbath of March. A bird coming into a house and flying over any one's head was an unlucky omen for the person over whose head it flew. It was said that eggs laid upon Good Friday never got stale, and that butter made on that day possessed medicinal properties. If a horse neighed at the door of a house, it boded sickness to some of the inmates. A cricket singing on the hearth was a good omen, a token of coming riches to the family. If a bee came up in a straight line to a person's face, it was regarded as a forerunner of important news. If a servant wilfully killed a spider, she would certainly, it was said, break a piece of crockery or glass during that day. Spiders were, as they are still, generally detested in a house, and were often very roughly dislodged; but yet their lives were protected by a very old superstition. There is an old English proverb-- "If you wish to live and thrive, Let the spider run alive."